The first time U.S. sprinter Ronnie Baker tried to grab the baton, he found himself holding a handful of Fred Kerley’s jersey. The second time, Baker whiffed. By the third try, Kerley was side-by-side with Baker, practically using both hands to shovel the stick into his teammate’s palm.
The names might change, but the results for the American Olympic 4×100-meter relay team at the Tokyo Olympics remain every bit as brutal.
The exchange between Kerley and Baker wrecked the Americans in qualifying Thursday, leading to a sixth-place finish that left them out of the final and extended a quarter-century of misery for the country that brings the deepest track team to the Games.
“We just didn’t get the job done today. That’s all,” said Kerley, who ran the second leg.
Outrage spread quickly, as it always does when this happens.
“The USA team did everything wrong in the men’s relay,” sprinting great Carl Lewis wrote on Twitter. “The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership. It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw.”
The U.S. men won’t win a medal they used to count on in what is turning out to be a rough Olympic track meet. But what used to be a conversation about the deepest track team in the world simply giving away a medal really can’t be viewed in that light anymore.
The U.S. men haven’t won the 4×100 at the Olympics since 2000 and haven’t made it cleanly to the finish line in a final since taking a silver medal in 2012. But they gave that one back because of a doping ban against Tyson Gay.
Source-ESPN
